Emotional Intelligence as a Correlate of In-School Adolescents’ Self-Esteem and Academic Adjustment

ABSTRACT

This sought to determine whether emotional intelligence serves as a correlate of in-school adolescents’ self-esteem and academic adjustment.

This desire was also motivated by the need to determine the gender differences in the relation between among emotional intelligence, academic adjustment and self-esteem of in- school adolescents in Enugu State. Four research questions and four null hypotheses guided the study.

The design of the study was correlational research design. A total of 600 (249 males and 351 females) senior secondary class one students proportionately drawn from public senior secondary schools in Enugu State made up the sample for the study.

Three instruments namely: – In-school Adolescents’ Emotional Intelligence Scale (IAEIS), Self-Esteem Rating Scale (SERS) and Academic Adjustment Rating Scale (AARS) were developed, validated and used for the study.

The internal consistency reliability of the instruments were calculated using Cronbach Alpha procedure and reliability estimates of .80, .83, and .70 were  gotten for IAEIS, SERS and AARS respectively.

obtained through the administration of the three were and analyzed using Pearson’s r, R² (coefficient of determination) to answer the four research questions while ANOVA and multiple regression were used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 levels  of significance which revealed the following findings:

Emotional is a significant predictor of academic of in-school . Emotional intelligence of in-school adolescents had twenty-nine percent contributions in predicting their academic adjustment; emotional intelligence is a significant predictor of in-school adolescents’ self-esteem.

Emotional intelligence had forty-five percent  contribution in predicting the in-school adolescents’ self-esteem; significant gender differences do not exist in the relationship between emotional intelligence and academic adjustment of in-school adolescents.

Gender of in-school adolescents had five percent contribution in predicting the relationship between emotional intelligence and academic adjustment of in-school adolescents; No Significant gender differences exist in the relationship between emotional intelligence and self- esteem of in-school adolescents.

Gender of in-school adolescents had seven percent contribution in predicting the relationship between emotional intelligence and self-esteem of in-school adolescents.

A major educational implication of the findings was that the in-school adolescents could be educated on the importance of emotional intelligence as the predictor of academic adjustment and self-esteem.

It was thus recommended that emphasis should be given to educating adolescents on the importance of emotional intelligence as the predictor of academic adjustment and self-esteem and that the conflicting signals from the societal system that are causing confusion of interpretation for young persons should be checked.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page i
Approval Page ii
Certification iii
Dedication iv
Acknowledgement v
Table of Contents vii
Abstract xi

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1

Background of the Study 1
Statement of the Problem
Purpose of the Study 11
Significance of the Study 11
Scope of the Study 13
Research Questions 13
Hypotheses 14

CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF LITERATURE 15

Conceptual Framework 16
Concepts of:
· Adolescence 16
· In-School Adolescence 23
· Emotion 27
· Intelligence 28
· Emotional Intelligence 33
· Self-Esteem 39
· Academic Adjustment 41
· Gender 44
· Relationships among In-School Adolescence, Emotional
Intelligence, Self-Esteem and Academic Adjustment 45
Theoretical Framework 47
Multiple Intelligence Theory by Howard Gardner (1983) 47
Sigmund Freud’s Personality and Adjustment Theory (1856-1939) 49
Review of Empirical Studies 55
In-school Adolescents’ Emotional Intelligence as it Relates to Academic
Adjustment 55
In-school Adolescents’ Emotional Intelligence as it Relates to Self-esteem 57
Studies on Gender as a Factor in Emotional Intelligence and Academic
Adjustment 58
Studies on Gender as a Factor in Emotional Intelligence and
Academic Self-esteem 59
Summary of Review of Literature 60

CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHOD 64

Research Design 64
Area of the Study 64
Population of the Study 65
Sample and Sampling Techniques 66
Instrument for Data Collection 67
Validation of the Instrument 68
Reliability of the Instrument 68
Method of Data Collection 69
Method of data analysis 69

CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS 110

Summary of Major Findings of the Study 126

CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION OF RESULTS, CONCLUSIONS, EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUMMARY– 128

Discussion of the Findings 128
Conclusions 144
Educational Implications of the Findings 145
Recommendations 147
Limitations of the Study 149
Suggestions for Further Studies 150
Summary of the Study 150
References 70
Appendices 76

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

The adolescents are individuals bounded by childhood and adulthood. The upper limit of adolescence is the beginning of adulthood while the lower limit is bounded by childhood.

The adolescents in most cases fall within the secondary school years, and educators expect the adolescents to be out of secondary schools at 18 years (Santrock, 2005). In this study, adolescents are taken to be people between ages 11 and 18years.

This age group is unique in the sense that several developmental changes manifest in them and determine to a great extent their temperament and approaches to certain issues of life.

In-school adolescents undergo profound changes during their adolescent years in their physiological, social, intellectual and moral development. The in– school adolescents are a
dolescents who are currently in secondary schools.

The major developmental task of adolescence was seen by Atkinson, Atkinson, Smith, Bem and Nolen-Hocksema (1993) as being able to create an identity, to develop answers to questions such as: who am I? Where am I going?

Atkinson et al maintained that the psychoanalyst, Erikson coined the term identity crisis to refer to this active process of self-definition. The word crisis is perhaps unfortunate because Erikson believed this period of self-doubt to be an integral part of healthy psychological development.

Similarly, most developmental psychologists believe that adolescence should be a period of role experimentation (Santrock, 2005). This is a period of self-doubt or period of role experimentation in which the young persons can explore alternative behaviours, interest and ideologies.

Many beliefs, roles, and ways of behaving may be ‘tried out’, modified, or discarded in an attempt to shape an integrated concept of the self.

Ideally, the identity crisis should be resolved by the early or mid-twenties so that the individual can move on to other life tasks but this is not always the case as some of the adolescents may fail to resolve the identity crisis till later in life.

REFERENCES 

Abraham Harold Maslow (1970). Hierarchy of needs. Retrieved from www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html

Adeyemo, D. A. (2004). The buffering effect of emotional intelligence on the adjustment of secondary school students in transition. Electronic Journal of Research in Educational Psychology, 3(2), 79 – 90.

Akaon,R. (2008). Impact of parents’ socio-economic status on university students’ academic performance”, Ife Journal of Educational Studies, 7 (2), 23-32

Akinboye, J.O. (2003) Creativity, Innovation and Success. Ibadan: Striving- Horden Publishers Nigeria

Albus, A. (1999). Unequal childhoods: Race, class, and family life. California: University of California Press

Ali, A. (2006). Fundamentals of research in education. Awka, Nigeria: Meks Publishers.

StudentsandScholarship Team